Another month gone by too fast. Filled with many warm meals, finally finding a favorite recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup and the absolute best tortilla chips made right here in Oregon. You were the month that saw Danny standing for the first time. I caught him standing in his crib and then right after I pulled him out he was standing on the outside of the crib. He was so excited and so was I. You also brought disturbing information about my health. Things that I knew weren't good but now I actually have proof that I need to take better care of myself. So you were the month I started taking my health seriously again. Not the easiest thing to do this time of year. But I'm taking one day at a time and have already made some very positive changes. This year you brought early Christmas decorations, thank you for letting us share this joyous celebration with you. Something that should be celebrated every month. You also brought early Christmas presents, thanks to getting Christmas shopping done early, mama has a new pretty bed. You also brought me the confidence to finally make homemade cinnamon rolls, thanks also to a bread machine for the dough portion but this makes me very happy considering my first ever made from scratch cinnamon rolls didn't rise and were hard as a rock. Last but not least you brought one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving and also my Mom's birthday. November, I'm so glad you have a day where we can give our thanks to the Lord for every good thing He has given us.

We kind of never got around to reading our bible story for this lesson which was Abraham and Sarah, we also took two weeks for this lesson. Our library system is taking forever lately to get books in so I extended our time. We did however have lots of fun. Hannah really enjoyed the letter E page from the Alphabet Ark Book. The project was elbow painting. Too fun!

She's really starting to figure out play-doh, this was our first successful letter.

Here she is making spaghetti. I'm assuming this is the ground beef, just like Daddy likes it.

We're still a ways away from successful cutting so I cut the phonics pictures out for her and she enjoyed pasting them onto the E page.

She's also starting to understand the concept of matching. This puzzle is part of a Sesame Street puzzle pack.

Look what Danny started to do all on his own. This is literally the first picture I was able to take of him standing. I was trying to hurry, hence the blurriness. Sissy was in the crib playing and he wanted to get in too.

The week leading up to Halloween we focused on pumpkin activities. However after looking through the pictures I took I realized I didn't really take any. I guess we were just having too much fun. Too bad though, because we really did a ton of print outs and a really cute craft. Here is what I do have though.

The start of our pumpkin craft, Hannah painted a paper plate orange, we cut out 3 triangles and a mouth from black construction paper for the face and then I traced her hand on green construction paper and glued it to the top for the stem. Super easy and super cute!

The finished product. Hannah was clearly channeling Picasso.

We printed a huge portion of this Pumpkin Packet. Hannah really dove into this packet, it really helped me see where she is at with comprehension.

Where did you go? I feel like you were gone before I really got to say hello. I wanted to thank you for starting this fall season off right. You were filled with pretty house styling, Tot School galore, little munchkins I could just eat, blessings from God in the form of new friends, struggles that open my eyes to show even more love, answers to prayer for my big munchkin, powerful words from the book of James, many lessons being learned from The Healing Path, you helped reignite my love of being in the kitchen to bake and make warm meals, you brought fun new things to wear that I had been denying myself for a while, Pumkpin Patch fun until the tantrum that made people talk and laugh with understanding, yummy coffee in beautiful mugs, adorable Halloween costumes that only lasted until 5pm, and finally the full healing of my broken foot. October, I thank God that he made you the start of a new season, beautiful colors, warmer clothes and food and the start of the holiday season. I feel like I am starting a new season, a new beginning. My hope has been restored.

We actually finally did one subject in one week instead of two. Hannah is really enjoying Tot School. She knows that as soon as Caillou is over that it's time for Tot School and she makes sure to announce it every morning. Everyday is different though, sometimes we start with music (which is her favorite), some days we start with reading and some days we start with the activities. No two days are alike.

Below are the books that we read this week. I have to say the Noah's Ark Brick Bible was my favorite, it was a little interesting seeing skeletons on the ground after the flood but that is the truth, I honestly had never pictured it that way before. But that's exactly how it was. But besides that the detail the author uses with the Lego's (bricks) is really neat. I enjoyed it more than Hannah.

The weather was nice enough again for some outdoor play.

We finished another page from the Alphabet Art Book. The page was D for dots, Hannah is really starting to get into the dot markers so this was perfect.

However she pretty much left it with this line of dots. It is almost a rainbow though.

She really surprised me with her new love of dot work. She used to really not like this. So I'm happy she is enjoying these and doing them well, this page was the letter D.

I was able to snap a couple of really cute shots while they were playing. This has been happening so much lately. God has surely blessed us. This is the exact reason why we wanted them so close in age. This picture really looks like they were actually posing.

We finished up the week with some shaving cream painting of a dolphin. Hannah really loved this. I just discovered I'm supposed to add some glue to the paint so we'll try that next time. Hopefully it will help it dry better. But the finished product was still cool.

For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you.

Psalm 71:5-6

Confidence is something I've always struggled with. It's funny because if there is a situation where I'm caught off guard and have to be confident I will be and be fine with it. But if there is something that I need to be confident for in the future I will struggle with self doubt up until the moment arrives, during the moment and then tear myself apart afterwards, telling myself how I should have handled things differently.

Self doubt is super ugly, it is the enemy doing what he does best. It is a quick and easy way to isolation. Which is another thing I've dealt with for the past few years. But through diligent prayer God has seen my hearts desire and has slowly started opening doors for me. I put my trust and hope in Him; and by doing so I've caught myself many times saying that I would never have thought I would be where I am, doing what I'm doing, thinking what I'm thinking and surrounding myself with the people that I am. It has only been through God's grace, mercy and true love for me that I can say these things.

The only way that I have confidence is through Him, He is my strength. My confidence comes from the hope that I find in Him, through trying to have an eternal perspective. Not that it's always easy and I get side tracked alot but it is what I have to come back to, the truth.

The confidence I speak of isn't me telling myself I'm so awesome, look great or feel better than others. It is a confidence to face my fears, to live everyday with His new mercies, to know His love and kindness, to know that I do deserve these things and finally the biggest thing I'm learning is to show these to others without fear of rejection. I guess, the confidence to be vulnerable. Though it might be scary; to do it anyways, knowing that God is there, He has my back, He is my confidence.

O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

We had a fun couple of weeks with the letter C and Adam & Eve. Hannah is really enjoying tracing.

I finally remembered to take a picture of the books we read.

Again, one of the most fun activities that we did was the "C" page for the Alphabet Art Book . This week was car tracks for C. I got out some brown tempera paint and a truck with really neat tire tracks and Hannah had a blast. She pretty much asks to do this again everyday.

Then of course you cannot get a truck dirty and not wash it. She is currently also obsessed with the car wash and asks frequently if we can go, so we took the truck through the car wash. Having a utility sink really does come in handy.

The weather here has been sunny and dry which is unlike the NW at this time of year so we've tried to take full advantage by being outside everyday. Soon we will be stuck in the house everyday for months. Danny crawls the length of the yard and further if I let him. This is another reason why we can only go out on dry days because he HAS to crawl.